Remodel project.. roof came off

[Walker]

Last fall my inlaws moved closer to us and purchased a house that belonged to a friend of mine. Over his ±10 years of ownership he completed much of the structural work, rough in and some finish work turning a major fixer upper into a blank slate of a vintage New England cape with a more modern open concept floor plan. We are diving into a serious remodel of the “summer kitchen” into a master suite and the dining/temporary kitchen area into a better kitchen dining space.


First step (after planning, planning and planning), make room to work. Here’s the garage that abuts the master suite. Need to make room to access the MB’s ceiling and shared wall. Ceiling is getting demo’d and elevated, wall will get re-framed as necessary, insulated and buttoned up. Garage has been cleared back quite a bit but need more room. That rack full of trim needs to go...


Next step is to isolate the space for demo so I don’t fill the garage with whatever has been up there for the last century, then it’s game on…

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Cool!

Luke.

 

[GuitarlCarl]

I love doing that kind of stuff.
Awesome, and good luck on the remodel.

Carl.

sent from my banana phone...

 

[Walker]

Got a good bit of work done at the house yesterday. dug out the footing that the PO had poured at least 15 years ago. Threw down a PT plate and posted every 16" with 6x6 PT posts. Looks like overkill but it will be below grade. I'll be extending the room about 15" to allow for more space for a door between the house and master bedroom. Nice to get all the temp cribbing out of there. Not much to look at now...






Love my Fat Max laser, I can shoot a line all the way down the top plate and it shows me exactly where to put my PT plate. Also used it to set level along the side wall


This was my solution for clearing the boulder and extending the framing. I wont do the other foundation work till after this shed roof extension is torn off. The corner of the building is still settling so that middle crib stack isn't even touching, corner needs to come down 3/16"


This is all coming out on Sunday. Ceiling too.. Existing ceiling is 6'8". Whoever built this room installed the ceiling ties about 18" below the top plates. Maybe they kept the ceiling low to hold the heat down? Dunno, I'll be making kind of a scissor truss to open the room right up. I cant wait to tear all this mess apart and get down to a blank slate..

 

[GuitarlCarl]

It's amazing the stuff previous owners do. Was hooking up my lady's new drove yesterday. Her home, built in the 50's, has all the gas lines ran in galvanized... replacing all that with black pipe just topped the honeydew list.
You're making progress, it's tough remodeling and working full time... my question is what are they using for floor joists?

Carl.

sent from my banana phone...

 

[Walker]

The existing floor system has a central 6x6 running 16' across with a pile of rocks in the midspan). The end attached to the garage uses hewn timbers spaced about 36" o/c, the near half uses rough sawn 2x6's spaced anywhere from 18" to 24" on center. The fir flooring is directly attached. Gives you an idea how old it is. I will be cutting this all out, installing a central pier, then a tripled up 2x10 main carrier. Floor joists will be 2x8. The floor system will be insulated so a PT 2x4 gets attached to the underside of the joist, then 1/2" plywood drops in-between supported by the 2x4's, then a layer of poly iso gets foamed in place, with the remaining void filled with fiberglass insulation, then subfloor. I think they are doing carpet.

I'm extending the building about 15"

I'm not holding out much hope for the fir flooring, it's been warped for so long I doubt it could be salvaged.

Today the word "deck" came up several times...

 

[GuitarlCarl]

That's my summer gig, designing & building decks...

Carl.

sent from my banana phone...

 

[Walker]

Carl, I'd much rather be building a deck right now! There is a plan for a small entry porch but a back deck would be nice, we'll see. You do much with cable railings? I've done a couple this year and they are pretty nice for keeping the railing invisible.

10 hours of demo yesterday, Pulled out all the insulation and some decent antique wide pine boards. Found the obligatory mummified critter under the boards.



Dropped the whole ceiling in almost one piece. just sawzalled around the perimeter and boom down it came. What a mess.


Got all that cleaned up and then made another, opened up the walls to find a habitrail. This wall is getting some kind of operable window. Not sure if you can see how they just cut through the studs to install the window, no sill or header. Definitely need to do some reinforcing to the walls! Tore out the old kitchen. The wall shared with the garage will have to go. Whoever installed the chimney way back when just cut through the main beam...


Ceiling ties are all different sizes old sawn lumber. It's too bad they are so warped but maybe I can repurpose them somewhere down the line.



Here's a good shot of the structural ridge I need to re-support.


Probably need another 2 days of framing/demo before I can start putting things back together. It's kind of at that "what have I gotten myself into stage". At least my inlaws didn't freak out too much. And now they can get a better feel for how the room will be with a higher ceiling.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

There is always that point of making it worse before it gets better, but it needs to be done!

Luke.

 

[Walker]

we are now adding an arch window to the upper gable. And someone said something about another closet and window seat. Hoping to get more done this weekend, just got to keep juggling....

 

[GuitarlCarl]

What's going on with the remodel?

Carl.

sent from my banana phone...

 

[Walker]

Been a while since I updated. The well pump died last month so that was a bit distracting. 200' of pipe... I saved them a couple grand and did it myself. Converted the 1/2hp 3 wire pump to a 3/4hp two wire.



Last weekend I rebuilt the front steps, basically replaced a cement block and plywood apparatus with Azek decking and some True Exterior trim boards I had left over from another project. I adjusted the size of the landing to work with my left overs, worked out to 6'-6" wide by 4'-3' or so. The chunk of granite for a first step is buried about 18". I couldn't lift the whole thing with a 30hp Kubota so it too a bit to set it square and level.



Spent 12 hours over there Friday and yesterday doing some dirt work, pulling rocks from the yard, bit of regrading. I added a layer of 3/4" pressure treated plywood to my wood foundation, covered with bituthane and backfilled with clean sand and drainage. I did some exploration into the floor system where it meets the garage. The beam that supports the floor system which I thought was sitting on concrete is in fact just barely hanging there, completely unsupported. No worries, I'll just frame the dividing wall on the garage slab and grow the room a few inches. Mother in law has started scraping for an exterior repaint. I still have some trim to repair, gable vents and some light blocks to install to keep ahead of her... I think she is going to ditch the square concrete pavers and put some bricks down.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Awesome stuff!
Respecting the history but making sure it will still be there in the future...

Luke.

 

[Walker]

Thanks Luke.

The addition I am remodeling it particularly challenging. I would guess it's like 80 years old, and the floor system is half timber frame with recycled beams, the other half is sawn lumber but the layout is all over the place. The back foundation wall is within a 1/8" of level all the way, the wall is plumb in and out but the studs are all crooked, I think nobody owned a level or the floor was out when they framed it or something. Might just cut the wall out.

 

[Walker]

Put in a half day at the in laws today. I was hoping to get the permanent framing up under the ridge but I didn't quite get there. The studs I needed to cut off the gable to enable clearance for the beam were supporting the shed roof rafters (3x4's at 36" on center). I had been hoping to delay opening up the end of the building but the time was now. I ended up sectioning the roof into chunks which wasn't too bad. I did learn that way back when someone shingled the roof and then went right up the gable wall, later it was covered in shakes. Still more demo to go but at least I was able to put a few pieces of new lumber in. The two main posts which were from my sister's scrap pile, a 6x6 and a 6x8 pine post and a couple of salvaged 2x10's. I still want to add 2 more layers to this beam.

removed all the windows and first section of roof


Here we are with the shed roof totally removed.


the beginnings of the main beam. These aren't lagged together yet, I didn't have any plywood on site to build it up properly. I'll slip in the ply next time I'm over with more lumber


If I can get a full day over there I should be able to tear out the remains of the wall and finish the structural work, then I think I'll cut out the floor and then attack the walls and rafters once I have a flat and stable work platform.

The end wall where the windows used to be will be getting a 6' patio door and the gable wall gets an arch window.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Really enjoying following this!

Luke.

 

[Walker]

Thanks Luke. I wish I could dedicate more time to this project.

 

[Walker]

Good day today.

Built up the main beam, triple 2x10 with plywood. The beam is spanning 15'-1" but that will shrink to about 10ft when I add a partition for the walk in closet.


Removed the gable end entirely.

just pulling off the tails of the wide pine siding, all square cut nails..Going to need to do some drip edge repair over there on the lower left side of the roof, hopefully I don't have to upset the existing shingles..


Big surprise, the 2x4 rafters were sagging a bit (1/2") so I ran a dry line and cut my studs to meet the string. Then I forced the studs into place to straighten the rafters. Got all the sag out of the right side but the left still had about 1/16" left. Oh well, I doubt anyone will notice.. This was my one shot to fix the sag so I wouldn't have to fight it all the way through trim and siding. Glad I took a few extra minutes to address it. Oh yeah, lots of wasp nests, spiders and other stuff back behind the siding..


you can almost see the string..


Built up the arch window / ridge beam supports with some of the left over 6x6 pine from my sister's scrap pile. Window will sit around 16" above the shed roof.




somehow I deleted the final shot of the last piece of post going in to meet the ridge. Just need to anchor the parts together and I can pull the temp post.

Looking forward to getting the studs in and sheathing the gable. Nice to start putting things back together instead of just propping things up and tearing things apart....

 

[GuitarlCarl]

1/16 of an inch? Do it all over
Brother there's carpenters all over who rough frame to within a quarter inch, ya ain't buildin' a cabinet is what the old guys used to say to me. I'm a journeyman Carpenter myself, gotta love rebuilding on old rough framing. I worked on a cabin by the river that was built from old skids and shipping boxes back in the early 50's. Looked great on the outside but when you opened it up there wasn't a board over 4 foot long in the whole place. Can you say sistered? I spent two days with a sawzall cutting out blocking so we could shore up the top plate with precuts. Those walls were practically solid wood by the time we were done.
I like what you're doing, keep up the good work. I love framing in the fall.

Carl.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Looking awesome Walker!

Luke.